This is what amazes me about these eastern euro girls....they are begging to stay on court 5 hours a day. The 9.5 year old told me "I would play tennis every hour of every day if they let me". She knows every player, reads about them, loves Tennis Channel.

Yes, it's interesting but no clear cut answer either way. 5-6 hrs. a day doesn't guarantee success and 2 hrs. per day doesn't guarantee failure.

I don't get frustrated that much anymore because there's so many unknowns and this is just a game of "trial and error." If a family goes "all in," I hope to god it works but honestly (and the math bears out), 99%+ of those juniors will be looking for jobs and in this competitive global economy, so I hope they have many advanced degrees in addition to living on the court . . . however, as we know, many do not, and we never hear from them again.

This is perhaps the most morbid of all sports (or close to the top). My goal is to not have tennis ruin my little girls life. It's a very delicate balancing act. I wish success to everyone as we all go through this crazy junior tennis world.